


Finding Home

by PretendPeach



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Eventual Romance, Short Chapters, first fic, stardew valley is real
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26156932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PretendPeach/pseuds/PretendPeach
Summary: Stardew Valley is Ruby's favorite video game. So imagine her surprise when she gets transported to Pelican town! She has to figure out a way to get back to her regular life, but does she actually want to?
Relationships: Harvey & Female Player (Stardew Valley), Harvey/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic! It's a work in progress and not edited tbh so please be nice. Any and all suggestions/constructive criticisms are welcome. I thought of this idea and just wanted to get it on 'paper'. I hope you like it!

Ruby woke up standing. She swayed, confused, but stayed upright. Around her was land that was clearly not occupied, as there were trees and rocks and grass everywhere. To her right was a small cabin, large enough for probably only one room. She didn’t have time to process anything when she heard a voice.

“This is Wildflower Farm,” the woman’s voice said. Ruby turned, and saw a redheaded woman of about 45. Ruby must have looked confused because the woman asked, “What’s the matter? Sure, it’s a bit overgrown, but there’s some good soil underneath that mess!” She smiled at Ruby. “With a little dedication, you’ll have it cleaned up in no time.”

For some reason, all of this felt familiar to Ruby. She couldn’t place it, and was still extremely confused as to why she had blacked out and woken up here.

“And here we have your new home,” the woman said, walking over to the cabin.

At this, Ruby was even more confused. She knew she had an apartment and hadn’t been looking for new places to live, definitely not out in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t even know where she was. She walked over to where to woman was standing and a man walked out the door, and the realization hit her. She recognized him instantly.

“Lewis,” she said.

“Ah, the new farmer!” He said smiling. “Your grandfather must have told you about me. I’m the mayor of Pelican Town.”

Ruby was speechless. She was in her game. Her favorite game, Stardew Valley. But it was impossible, it was just a game. It must be a dream. That makes the woman Robin. But it all looks so real, and feels so real too.

“You know, everyone’s been asking about you,” Lewis continued. “It’s not everyday that someone new moves in. It’s quite a big deal!” Lewis paused, looking toward the cabin wistfully. “So, you’re moving into your grandfather’s old cottage. It’s a good house, very ‘rustic’.”

Robin and Lewis look toward the cabin, but ruby was no longer listening. She must be dreaming, and would wake up soon. But she had never been one to have vivid dreams like this, and this one felt so real. She decided that she would jump in the pond, that would tell her if it was real or not. She realized Lewis was talking to her.

“You must be tired from the long journey. You should get some rest. Tomorrow you ought to explore the town a bit and introduce yourself. The townspeople would appreciate that.”

Robin and Lewis turned to walk away, and then Lewis turned to tell Ruby about the shipping box that she already knew all about. When they were gone, she walked over to the tiny pond and jumped in.

It was COLD. She felt every sensation, cold, wet, slimy algae against her leg. This was real, no doubt about it. She thought that she must be in some sort of ‘Jumanji’ situation. Getting out of the pond, her first thought was of the Wizard. He must know something about this. She set off to go find him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby sees the wizard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please lmk what you think! any advice is welcome :)

Ruby was mostly dry by the time she got to the Wizard’s tower. The tower was surprised at how difficult it was to find, considering she had played over 400 hours of the game. But then again, these were actual woods. She walked up the stairs, knocked, and waited. 

There was no answer.

Annoyed, she banged on the door harder, shouting, “Hey Razmodius, I know you’re in there!” She hoped this would get his attention.

He opened the door just a crack. Apparently the new farmer knowing his name only a couple hours after getting to town intrigued him.

“What?” He asked.

“Well for starters, I’m trapped in a video game,” she answered.

His eyes widened at this, and he opened the door wide enough for her to step inside.

Looking around, Ruby noticed that one big thing was different from the game. The cauldron that sat to the side of the room was empty and not smoking or bubbling. The room was also messier, more books and papers strewn about and scorch marks on the walls and floor. This confused her, as if she was trapped in the game, shouldn’t everything be the same?

“I can explain what has happened to you, as it has happened to many before you. The first it happened to was Eric Barone. He said that he would create a game for others to play so that they could experience what he did. You are not trapped in a game. You were transported to another world.”

“What? That’s impossible!” Ruby said.

“But you were so willing to believe you were trapped in a game?” The Wizard asked. “It will be easier to explain because you are familiar with the game, but it will be harder for you to live here. You see, the Junimos have the power to transport people between worlds. They pick people from your world to bring here who they think need it, in one way or another. Mostly it is because they are dissatisfied with their life.”

Ruby couldn’t believe it. She marveled at the idea that the game was based on a real place, but couldn’t accept it so simply. Although she had to admit that she hadn’t been satisfied with her life. She had just gone through a breakup and was working a dead end job in sales. She had very few friends and hated her apartment.

“You’ll find that some things are different here, by nature of being real,” the Wizard continued. He started moving around the room, putting ingredients in the cauldron. “You know the townsfolk as characters, but they are real people with complex lives and emotions. They are as real as you are. This is why I said it would be hard for you, because it will be natural for you to think of everything here as fake, but it is not.”

“How do I get back to my life?” Ruby asked.

“Are you sure you want to? Very well. You must complete the tasks for you set by the Junimos. I assume you know of the run down community center?”

She nodded.

“Good,” he said. “In every room, there will be bundles of items to bring to them. Bring them all the items, and you will have the choice to leave. Although you can stay, if you choose to. The Junimos will not force you to leave, as they brought you here because they thought it would help you.” With this, he poured a green liquid into the cauldron. He then spooned some into a cup and gave it to her.

“You said there were others. How many? What happened to them?” She asked.

“You are the twelfth. They decided to leave,” he said simply. 

“Does time not move here?”

“The Junimos reset it after each person leaves. I believe they are searching for the person who will stay, but they have not revealed that information with me. Although time resets, no two iterations are the same. Your actions, even the smallest ones, affect this town.” He gestures to the cup. “Drink that, and you can understand Junimo writing.”

She drank.

Ruby couldn’t believe she actually drank it. If this was real, it would help her, and if it wasn’t real, then it didn’t matter what she did. So she drank it, and felt no different.

“Go and live your life here. If you have any more questions, you are always welcome to come see me and ask. But remember, these are real people, with complex feelings and lives ” he said.

Ruby took this as an invitation to leave, so she said thank you and left. It was night by the time she got back to the cabin, so she entered and went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> very short chapter sorry, the next one will be a bit longer i promise :)

The next morning she woke to the sound of birds. With light streaming in from the window, she had to admit that it was a nice place to live. She stood up and realized that she hadn’t eaten anything yesterday, so she decided to walk to Pierre’s to get some food. Apparently the Junimos had been kind enough to give her 500g when they brought her here.

It took her about half an hour to walk to the store, time that had never felt significant in game but did when she felt lightheaded. She was thankful that she didn’t pass anyone on the way to the store as she didn’t want to feel the shock of seeing anyone she recognized before eating.

Walking inside, she saw that it really did look like the game. There were shelves of fruits and vegetables, along with basic ingredients and groceries.

“Hello, welcome to Pierre’s! I’m Pierre, you must be the new farmer, Ruby!” The man behind the counter said.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” she answered. She grabbed some basic groceries and seeds. She got a bean starter, a few cauliflower seeds, and a few potato seeds. She did plan on planting those parsnips, too, as she knew from the game what the initial spring crops bundle was. After checking out, she had basically no money left, so she hoped that foraging was as easy as it was in the game.

When she walked outside, she was thankful that the town was still pretty empty, although she guessed that this was pretty normal as there weren’t very many people anyway. She passed Lewis, wanting to just say a quick hi, but he stopped her.

“Farmer Ruby! We’re having a little get together in the Saloon tonight. It’s that building right there,” he said, pointing. “It’s at 7 o’clock. Everyone is very excited to meet you.”

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to be rude, but she also didn’t want to go. She heard herself say, “I’ll be there.” Great. This would take a lot of mental preparation.

———

She got back to the house at 10:30AM, so she still had a lot of time before she had to be anywhere. She found a large chest with tools in it and grabbed the axe and pickaxe, hoping to clear out some of the area right in front of the cabin for crops. What she didn’t expect was how tiring it was. It took her two hours just to clear a large enough area for her to put her crops. And even then, she had wood and rocks that she didn’t know what to do with. They normally went automatically to her backpack, but obviously that wasn’t the case here. She picked them up one by one and moved them over to the side, resolving to do something with them later.

Next, Ruby hoed the ground to make room for the seeds. She only had about 20, but by the time she was done her back hurt more than it had in a while. Then she put the seeds in the ground and watered them with the rusty watering can she found in the chest. She was pretty sure that you weren’t supposed to water plants everyday, but she figured she would do some research and go from there.

By the time she was finished, it was 2pm and she was starving. She went inside, thankful for the shade, although there was no air conditioning, ate some of the groceries she bought earlier, and promptly fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby goes to the Saloon

Ruby woke up at 5:30. For a second, she thought that she had missed the event at the saloon, but soon realized she still had a bit of time before that happened. She realized she should shower and put on more presentable clothes than her dirtied jeans, so she did just that. By the time she finished, it was 6:30, so she headed off to the saloon.

She knew that she already was familiar with these people, but she remembered what the Wizard said. These are real people, with complex feelings and lives. They were simplified in order to be put in the game, and she had to remember that.

The social part of the game had never intrigued her that much, she had to admit. She gave people gifts when she remembered, but never dated or married anyone. She was thankful for this, as that would be just too weird.

Ruby got to the saloon just after 7. There was no one outside, so she took a deep breath to steady herself. Meeting new people was not one of her strong suits, but people she had thought were just characters in a video game but were actually real people? How would anyone deal with that?

“Fuck it,” she said to herself, and walked through the door. The Saloon was full of people walking around and talking to each other. There was music playing and the smell of pizza and beer greeted her. It was all oddly welcoming.

The first to see her was Robin, waving her over.

“Hi there, Ruby! It’s good to see you again, this is my husband, Demetrius,” she said.

Demetrius stuck his hand out, and Ruby shook it.

“It’s good to meet you. You should go meet my daughter, Maru. She’s excited to meet you,” he told her, pointing to where Maru sat with Penny. At least the friendships here seemed to match with the game.

Ruby nodded, saying “it’s good to meet you, too.”

She walked around, ‘meeting’ people. It was just so bizarre. Ruby hoped that people didn’t think she was weird, as she tried not to stare at everyone. What she noticed was that these people were not exactly like their counterparts. Haley was nice to her, Alex seemed very intelligent. Yes, Shane was sitting at the bar not talking to anyone, but he wasn’t outright rude to her. She was starting to feel her perceptions of these people shift.

Gus had just handed her a beer over the bar when Harvey walked up next to her.

“The usual, Gus, please,” he said. He stood there for a few seconds before seeming to realize she was there.

“Oh, hello,” he said to her with a small smile. “You must be the new farmer. I’m Harvey, the local doctor. It’s nice to meet you.”

Ruby found herself smiling back. He was the one of the only people to not seem over eager in meeting her. Yes, she knew that it was a small town and a new person is exciting, but being that new person is overwhelming. She was grateful for this small relief.

“I’m Ruby,” she answered.

“It must be crazy having all these people introducing themselves to you.”

Ruby chuckled. “You have no idea,” she answered back.

Gus handed Harvey his wine. Harvey turned to her and gave a small wave, and walked to a table.

Ruby took her beer and sat next to Shane, as she thought people may be less eager to meet her if she was near him.

“Why are you sitting here?” He asked. So much for not being rude to her outright.

“I figured they wouldn’t come talk to me if I was next to you,” she answered honestly.

This seemed to surprise him, but he gave a slight smile which she took for amusement. Judging by how he didn’t tell her to leave, he took this as a good answer. 

By the end of the night, she had met everyone except the kids and Linus. It surprised her to see that even Gunther had come. But she was exhausted, so she was thankful when people started leaving. She said thanks to Gus and started for the door when she heard Shane get up, too.

“I’m going your way, might as well walk with you,” he said.

Ruby nodded.

They walked together in silence for a few minutes before saying goodbye and splitting off in different directions to go to their separate homes. Walking alone, Ruby thought about her situation here. Everything was so similar, but there were things that were different. Shane had been halfway nice to her. Maybe he had seen her discomfort and related to it, she didn’t know. What she did know was that her expectations were flying out the window and that she had no idea what to expect.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Ruby decided to check out the community center. She had watered her crops and eaten breakfast, so she set off to find it.

Walking past the bus stop and into town, she saw Harvey standing under the big tree near the clinic. She was going to keep walking when he saw her and waved to her, so she went over to say hello.

“Hi doc,” she said with a smile.

“Hello Ruby, how are you today?”

“I’m good thanks. Just exploring the town some more. How are you?”

“Good as well. How are you enjoying Pelican Town so far? I know it can be a little overwhelming, I only moved here 4 years ago myself,” he said.

“It’s nice, everyone has been really welcoming. What made you come here of all places?” She asked.

“I always wanted to live in a small town. The big city was always so hectic and there was no focus in the hospital on the holistic approach to patient care. Moving here was the best decision of my life.”

With that last sentence, Harvey looked down, seemingly bashful. Ruby wasn’t sure why, it was a nice sentiment that made her feel better about having to spend time there.

“That’s good to hear,” she said smiling. “Wouldn’t want it to be your worst decision.”

“No, I guess not,” he said chuckling. “Anyway, I won’t keep you longer, I should get back to the clinic. I’ll see you later, I hope?” He paused. “You should really come by the clinic to get a check-up.”

She nodded, and they said goodbye, Harvey walking up to the clinic and Ruby going right to the community center.

———

Walking toward the community center, Ruby could see that it really did look run down. There seemed to be a whole in the roof, the windows were so dirty they were basically opaque, and there were vines growing all on the outside. She tried to open the door, but it was locked.

“I heard that you were up here,” said a voice from behind her.

Ruby turned to see Lewis walking towards her. 

“I was wondering what it was,” she lied.

“The old community center,” he explained. “It used to be the center for town events, but after a tree fell on it, we didn’t have enough money to repair it and it hasn’t been used since. It’s unfortunate.”

“Maybe I could help fix it up,” Ruby suggested.

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that. You have so much on your plate already.” He paused, seeming to consider her offer more. “Though, I suppose I could leave it unlocked for you, just in case you have some free time.”

He fished his keys out of his pocket and inserted one into the door. He turned to her.

“Though really, Ruby, don’t feel any pressure. It hasn’t been in use for fifteen years, the town can manage without it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Lewis,” she replied.

He said goodbye and left Ruby alone to explore the community center. She opened the door and saw that it was about as bad as expected- dust everywhere, broken floorboards, peeling wallpaper. She walked around, looking in the different rooms. In the room that looked to be a craft room, she saw a Junimo.

She was shocked by the realness of it. It really did look like a large, blue apple.

“Hello,” she said tentatively. She didn’t walk as she didn’t want to scare it off, but it did not seem scared of her. It looked at her with curiosity, then jumped once and walked over to a box on the ground. Inside, there were what looked like drawings of the items she needed to bring- cauliflower, green bean, parsnip, and potato. In the room, there were six other boxes.

As Ruby obviously didn’t have all the bundles memorized, she decided to walk home and get a pencil and paper. When she got back, she wrote down everything she needed from each room. With this, she left the community center for the day.


	6. Chapter 6

One morning Ruby decided to go fishing. She thought about where to fish and decided on the river below Marnie’s ranch. On the walk down, she realized that she had never actually been fishing before. But there were so many fish that she had to catch for the Junimos that she might as well start now.

Upon arriving, she set up her cooler and folding chair (she definitely wasn’t going to stand all day) and put bait that she bought from Willy on the hook. It took her a couple tries but she finally got a cast that she was satisfied with. From what she knew of fishing, it was a waiting game, so she waited.

It really was beautiful here. She noticed that the colors were so vibrant, all the blues and greens of nature. The sounds of the birds, the river, and the wind in the trees calmed Ruby in a way she didn’t even know was possible. It even smelled crisp, she couldn’t describe it differently.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Said a voice from next to her.

Ruby turned to see Leah standing next to her with an easel and paint supplies.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Ruby replied.

“It’s part of the reason I came here, the views. That and to get away from the city. But you know all about that, I’m sure.”

Ruby nodded. She actually did know, even though people here didn’t know her true background.

“Do you mind if I set up here? I’ve been wanting to paint this view for a while. Normally I deal with sculptures but I like to practice other forms sometimes,” Leah said.

“Not at all,” Ruby replied.

They worked in silence for a while, Ruby struggling to get bites and Leah working on her painting. But after a while, conversation started flowing. They talked about what led them to Pelican town, some lies from Ruby on that front, although mostly the truth. They talked about Leah’s art, Ruby expressing interest in seeing more of her work, especially if painting wasn’t Leah’s strong suit, as the one that she was doing currently was already really good. Leah even gave her advice on how to fish better, and by the end of the day Ruby had caught two sunfish and three chub.

“I was about to head to the Saloon, you should come with. I usually hang out with Elliot, you met him right? He’s cool,” Leah said.

Ruby hesitated, as she hadn’t been to the Saloon since the welcome party. Leah sensed her hesitation and laughed.

“It won’t be like that night, I promise. Most people don’t go very often, even on a Friday like tonight.”

“Ok, then. That sounds fun,” Ruby replied.

Both girls put their stuff in Leah’s cabin and set off.

Hanging out with Leah was easy for Ruby, she reflected on the way to the Saloon. Her friends from back home had always been so energetic and wild, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She could never be quite herself with them, but with Leah that wasn’t the case. It was weird for her, making friends with this girl she thought she knew. She didn’t actually know her, but she wanted to.

The Saloon was less crowded than she thought it would be. The people in the main room were Shane, Pam, Willy, and Clint. Ruby and Leah had already sat down and ordered when Elliot walked in and joined them.

“Hi sorry I’m late! I just had to finish a chapter,” he explained to them.

They spent the evening talking about their lives before the valley, as they had all moved there relatively recently. Ruby had more fun than she thought she would, and Elliot wasn’t as outlandish as his NPC.

As she walked home, she found herself almost happy, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for some reason I had a lot of trouble writing elliot so i cut the chapter a little short :|


End file.
